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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22891621">We'll dance while we can and pray we get to dance again</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelastxerxesian/pseuds/thelastxerxesian'>thelastxerxesian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Almyran tradition headcanon, Cysithea Week (Fire Emblem), Cysithea Week 2020, F/M, Garreg Mach Ball, Insecurity, Post-Time Skip, Pre-Time Skip, Waltzing, it's all fluff and games but the ending is bittersweet (?), no beta we die like Glenn, this really doesn't spoil anything post-timeskip</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:26:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,043</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22891621</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelastxerxesian/pseuds/thelastxerxesian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Cyril gives Lysithea a chance to revisit one of her regrets from her time at the Officers Academy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cyril/Lysithea von Ordelia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We'll dance while we can and pray we get to dance again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm posting this a few hours after Day 2 of Cysithea week.  Sothis forgive me for my sins</p><p>also this isn't too heavily revised because I whipped this up in a few hours so hopefully it's all still good</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The monastery would never look more beautiful than it did that night, she thought.Bright, golden light illuminated the hundreds of beaming faces in the crowded reception hall.Her eyes lingered on the house leaders in the middle of the dance floor, vibrant capes of red, blue, and yellow swaying with their waltzes.Claude was dancing with Byleth—she knew he’d be on a high all night after their professor had accepted his outstretched hand and allowed him to lead the two of them to the center of the makeshift ballroom.Despite her teacher’s introversion, Byleth’s moves here were as graceful as they were on the battlefield.She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised.</p><p>“Lysithea!”She turned to see Hilda skipping to her, the rest of the Golden Deer in tow.“As soon as the <em>important</em> people are done dancing, I’m going to help everyone else learn how to waltz.” </p><p>“Excuse me, Lysithea, but I must make a correction.I, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, already know how to waltz.I simply hoped that Hilda would be kind enough to help me with my form, as she—”</p><p>Leonie cleared her throat and smacked her hand onto Lorenz’s shoulder.“Well, not all of us were fortunate enough to have private dance tutors.I just want to give it a shot.”</p><p>As Lorenz turned around to explain that he had an <em>etiquette instructor</em> and not a dedicated <em>dance tutor</em>, Lysithea focused on Raphael, Ignatz, and Marianne.</p><p>“I’m not that graceful, but I’m gonna try my best!” Raphael said with a grin.Ignatz stammered about appreciating the art form but not being fit for it, and Marianne stared at the tiles on the floor.</p><p>“Well?” Hilda said.</p><p>“… Well what?”Lysithea raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“Don’t you want to learn too?You are the daughter of a noble, after all, so you might as well get used to it now.It’ll be a lifelong skill for people like us!”</p><p><em>Lifelong</em>.Lysithea diverted her gaze back to Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude, all of whom were bowing or curtseying as the song finally ended.Lysithea would have been fooled by Claude if she didn’t know how mischievous he actually was; they were like beings from a different world, with visions too high for her to see and bodies too strong for her to imagine inhabiting.</p><p>Lysithea looked back at Hilda and smiled.“I appreciate the offer, but they’re going to be putting out dessert soon.There’s no way I’m going to let anyone else have the first slice of cake.”</p><p>Hilda giggled.“Well, once you finish, come join us, okay?”She turned to face everyone behind her and pointed to the dance floor.“Let’s go, everyone!”</p><p>Lysithea did get the first piece of cake, and she stood near the dessert table to watch from afar.Raphael laughed, not bothering to be light on his feet as he moved too quickly for Ignatz to keep up.Leonie’s eyebrows furrowed deeper as Lorenz tried to correct her form while they waltzed.Lysithea was surprised he’d even agreed to dancing with a commoner in the first place.As they swapped partners every so often, they became more and more comfortable with one another; even Marianne cracked the tiniest smile as she danced with Hilda.</p><p>For a moment, she considered putting her plate down and joining them.Not very many people were by themselves—her professor was finally slipping away, and she spotted Cyril standing against a wall with his arms crossed.She figured he was waiting until the ball was over so he could get a head start on helping to clean up.Lysithea felt more out of place by herself than in a group, but she surely couldn’t imitate the graceful movements of Edelgard or Hilda.She didn’t have the elegance or the beauty, and her awkward body would stand out too much among her classmates.She was so much smaller and younger than them, and she didn’t want to ruin such a wonderful night for anyone.</p><p>Besides, the cake was delicious.It would make a good companion for spectating.</p><p> </p><p>“What are you thinking about?"</p><p>Lysithea startled.Her mind adjusted back to reality.“Oh, you’re finished already!I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware.”</p><p>“That’s okay.”Cyril put the book back on the shelf beside her.There was an awkward streak of stubble along the corner of his jaw, which surprised her—his face looked smooth enough that she assumed he didn’t shave because he couldn’t grow facial hair.It made sense, as Lysithea recalled hearing that Almyrans tended to have beards more often than people from Fodlan.</p><p>“I’ll start the last part next time we meet,” Cyril said, turning to look at her.She had to remind herself that now was <em>not</em> the time to imagine him with facial hair.“Is that okay, Teach?”</p><p>She laughed.“Of course.But <em>please</em> don’t call me that.That’s what Claude calls our professor.”</p><p>“Where else would I have gotten it from?”</p><p>She continued arguing why he <em>shouldn’t</em> use that name for her as they left the second floor library.Lysithea slowed when they reached the first floor and walked on familiar tile.</p><p>“Lysithea?”</p><p>She stopped and looked around—it was late at night, so none of the lights were on.“I can hardly believe there was such a big ball in this room only five years ago.It feels so empty now.”Phantoms of Edelgard and Dimitri turned with invisible partners—even a younger Claude was there, his hand holding their professor’s hand.“Doesn’t it feel as though everything that’s happened since that night occurred over a whole lifetime and a split second all at once?”</p><p>Cyril walked a few steps towards her, having strayed away from her before realizing she had stopped.“Yeah.”</p><p>Lysithea remembered the smiles on her classmates’ faces as they all danced with each other, stepping on toes and squeezing hands tightly.“I didn’t dance with anyone that night.”She smiled, her eyebrows deepening slightly.“I didn’t allow myself to.Hilda offered, but I was too insecure about opening up to everyone else at the time, so… I must have eaten a whole cake that night instead.”A dry chuckle escaped her mouth.“It’s such a silly thing to be sad over, but I regret not joining them.”</p><p>Cyril didn’t respond.Lysithea considered laughing it off and asking him to go ahead and walk her the rest of the way to her dorms.</p><p>He cleared his throat.“Then would you wanna join me right now?”</p><p>She blinked.“What?”</p><p>“I… I always…”</p><p>He sighed.</p><p>“I was there that night too.I don’t know if you saw me, but I remember seeing you eating alone.”Her cheeks heated, and she felt a flash of embarrassment that the image of her stifling her sadness with cake stuck with him all those years.“I think I felt a little angry, actually.I was mad that everyone was just ignoring this cute girl and leaving her by herself.”Her heart fluttered.“You’d think a school full of nobles would know better.”</p><p>She shook her head.“I did it to myself.”</p><p>“No, someone should have checked up on you again.”He fidgeted.“I always wished I would’ve at least come and talked to you, just to keep you company, but we didn’t know each other all that well back then.I was too focused on cleaning up after everyone that night.I’m sorry.”</p><p>“No, that’s…” She didn’t expect him to have remembered so many details from the ball—he seemed so distant at the time.“That’s not your fault, Cyril.And I saw you leaning up against the wall.Perhaps <em>I </em>should’ve approached <em>you</em> and made conversation.”</p><p>He moved closer to her.“You still haven’t answered my question.”He extended his hand to her and bowed ever so slightly.“Lysithea, do you want to dance with me?”</p><p>Lysithea straightened her posture and placed her hand in his.“I still haven’t learned formally,” she said.“I may stumble.”</p><p>Her chest tightened as he snuck his free hand around her back, her arm resting on his and grabbing onto his shoulder.“I don’t mind,” he said.</p><p>It took a while for her to settle into it and remember the pattern of <em>down, up, up, down, up, up </em>she had to keep with her feet, but eventually, she got the hang of the box step Cyril was showing her.He was even able to encourage her into doing quarter turns with each sequence, and their waltz easily fell into a moderate, steady tempo.She found herself staring at his chin most of the time, feeling too shy to look him in the eyes for too long.</p><p>“When did you learn this?” She asked.</p><p>“A week or so ago.Hilda taught me while we were working in the stables.”He pursed his lips.“I’m pretty sure she was just looking for a way to procrastinate, so I said no at first, but she…”<br/>
<br/>
“She what?”</p><p>They made eye contact.His face turned pink and he darted his eyes away from her expectant gaze.“She convinced me.You know how she is.”</p><p>Lysithea laughed.“She’s hard to say no to.”</p><p>They danced in a beam of blue moonlight, shaped by one of the windows.The light bounced off his dark hair, tinted his reddish-orange eyes pink.It wasn’t like the gold that overlaid that night five years ago, but something about this setting and the echoing, empty hall made her heart pound even more.She couldn’t place this moment on that dance floor—this was its own little snapshot in time that she was moving through very slowly.She felt <em>right</em> here.</p><p>Lysithea looked up to see Cyril’s brow furrowed.“What’s wrong?”</p><p>The gears in his head turned; she waited until he figured out what he wanted to say.</p><p>“… As I’ve grown up, I keep finding more and more things I miss about Almyra,” he began in a low voice.Her eyes widened—Cyril didn’t <em>talk </em>about his homeland, really.Especially not in such a sentimental way.“There was court dancing, not too different from what we’re doing right now.But what I really loved—”He released a breath.”We had these festivals where we did folk dances all day, no matter if it was really hot or really dark out.And the best part was that there were always so many people dancing at once, together.”His gaze was somewhere behind her—she saw sweltering days and torch-lit nights in his eyes, sandals kicked aside as people danced on the bare ground together, dust covering the bottoms of their feet.“Not everyone was dancing all at the same time, but there were always people <em>moving</em>.Some people were able to last the whole time.”</p><p>The upward curve of his lips took her breath away.“That sounds spectacular, Cyril.”</p><p>Down, up, up.He looked into her eyes, and she saw regret flash across his face.“I only got to do it once before I was taken here.I was so young at the time that I didn’t last very long.I always wanted to be one of the ones who could dance the whole day without stopping.”</p><p>Her hand tightened its grip on his shoulder, and she felt his hand press a little more into her back.“I hope you get there someday,” she said.“I bet it’s beautiful to watch.”</p><p>Eventually, they stopped and separated from each other.She laughed as she curtseyed and he bowed to her, and she felt as graceful as the warriors on the ballroom floor from all those years ago.“Thank you for this—it means a lot to me.”</p><p>“There’s no need to thank me.”Cyril rubbed the back of his neck.“I’ve wanted to do that for a while, actually.”</p><p>“Dance?”</p><p>As he smiled, something flickered in his expression that she couldn’t recognize.“Yeah.Dance.”</p><p>They had just started to walk to Lysithea’s dorm again when Cyril spoke.“Lysithea, I’m gonna take you to one of those festivals someday.”</p><p>Her lips parted, and a feeling of dread made the turning of her stomach sour.She shook it off as best as she could.</p><p>“I’d like that.”</p><p>She would live long enough to make that happen, for his sake.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>likelihood that I'll wake up and decide to change this title: like 50%</p><p>anyway I hope you enjoyed!  I'd like to post a few more works for Cysithea week, but I'm in college, so it may not happen every day.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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